Knembädj

Shape the fate of the shattered world

Character Creation Guidelines

A Character Driven Adventure
The best stories are character driven. Think of your favorite movies… your favorite stories on film. One commonality is that there were fantastic characters that you could relate with and root for. These characters drove the story forward.

You are the stars of this show, & will be able to really contribute to the quality of game we play by bringing characters that have goals / and motivations that you think are really cool… that you want to root for and believe in. Give us characters that we as the other players at the table want to root for as well. At minimum, each character along with thier back story should come prepared with answers to the following questions.

What would you consider your character’s primary motivation?
Supporting Questions: Why does your character adventure? Are there secondary motivations… related to the primary motivation or not?

What are your character’s goals?
This can be very similar to or in line with the character’s motivation. For example if his motivation is to restore the good name of the people of his beloved homeland of Wysteria… perhaps his goals can be turning the public approval of the leadership of neighboring lands in favor of Wysteria… If the motivation is the WHAT your character wants… the goals are the HOW. I expect that the HOW may be more fleshed out as the campaign takes shape so its OK to have a somewhat vague or high level set of goals.

What is your character’s homeland?
With our collaboratively created world, your character should come from a place that you as the player know well. Where is this place? How does this influence the character’s behavior / attitude / beliefs etc.

Jay also posted a great questionaire with tons of brainstorming prompts for creating a fleshed out character. Character Questionnaire
(end 3 main questions to ask)

Characters that are a work in progress
One of the best way to create characters that we want to root for is by creating characters that are a work in progress. This would be characters that are still coming into their own. Think of Link with his first wooden sword… think of a Paladin who has recently become a paladin and that is still trying to fully understand what it means to serve his deity… that doesnt know fully yet what it means to have their deities power course through thier veins. Think of a timid young wizard that has book knowledge but has yet to find his grit in the face of real danger.

Create a character that will EVOLVE through the campaign, both in his stat block and abilities, but… more repeatably, in thier thinking and disposition. If you watch through the Provokers series on Youtube (which is awesome!) the players there serve as great examples. the character Dice is a wizard who used to be a cook in the army… only using his powers to “freeze the meat” but never for combat…. in his adventuring group he is coming into his own power and learning to have confidence in himself. It is enthralling to watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwwSEnZIEHo

Overall Feel of the PCs
• Campaign aims to be good aligned. there will be threats on the land and on the world that the players will have a chance to play a role in culling these threats. There are a few neutral aligned PC ideas already, we will need to ensure that we have party members that have good alignments (could be chaotic or lawful or neutral good) in order to help move the party in the direction that the campaign intends.

Create a Character, not a gimmick

- Be sure to create a character with a personality and with motivations. Their motivations should really drive their interactions in the world. Why are they adventuring? What do they fight for? Are there loved ones?

- Players who write a back story can write in a magical item. This should be an item, not a weapon or piece of armor. All items need to be cleared with the GM prior to use. Back stories should at least be a page or two

Where does your Character Come from?

- Characters motivations and world view can and should be shaped and influenced by other parts of the world that they have ties to. Will be uploading to this wiki sections for places that the Characters can come from, what these civilizations are like, what their world view is, etc.

- Players are encouraged to co-author the locations that their characters may come from. Some locations will be outlined here in the Wiki… you can pick one of these and expand on the detail of the city, or you could write the details for a new city / town of your crafting.

Races that should not exist unless player makes strong case
• All races listed in the “Uncommon Races” Section of the rulebook

Magic Level
• A bit above medium Magic.
○ Magic has not always been a part of the world but more and more people are showing an aptitude for it now.
○ Example Celebreties in our current world. Everyone knows that they exist, but many will go their whole lives never seeing magic. Some cities have elevated magic in the city infrastructure itselves

Magic System
• Base Magic System rules
• Working to build in advanced magic rules for word weaving (BJ)

Technology Level
• Medieval Fantasy
• Iron exists and is readily available
• Rare materials such as mithril exist but are well… rare
• War machines such as balistae and catapults exist
• Guns do not likely exist. Guns are not selectable for starting PC’s.

Influential Organizations
• Magus order of “Jedi Inspired” peacekeepers
○ The maguses themselves would be more of a prestige class but you could start as perhaps a trainee of sorts.
• Spartan City that breeds warriors. No trade. Is fed by other city states. Fights border wars with the savage orcs.
• Trade Guilds are a thing
• More collaborative organizations are welcome

Starting Level: 1

Point Buy 25
-Hard Max on 16 for stat purchase before racial modifiers
-Maximum of one stat at 7-9 all others must be 10 or higher.
-Goal is to have well balanced characters that are not min -maxed / gimmicky.
-GM to approve all sheets after creation

Classes
• Most All Classes are playable
• Core Classes are all playable
○ Druids and Clerics – See GM about Dieties and source of Magic
• Base Classes are playable – Special attention to Gunsmith
○ Gunsmith or swashbuckler… any class with a gun must discuss with GM first
• All Hybrid classes are possible but need to be specifically cleared with GM before rolling this character
• Antipaladin, Ninja, and Samurai are off limits